Bolton had weathered wave after wave of Tottenham attacks, with goalkeeper Adam Bogdan in inspired form, when Ryan Nelsen finally breached the dam with a 74th minute back-post header.

Three minutes later Jermain Defoe teed up Bale for the second to settle a quarter-final tie that was rearranged following the collapse of Fabrice Muamba in the original fixture nine days ago.

Kevin Davies scored a late consolation for Bolton before Louis Saha applied the coup de grace, beating Bogdan from 25 yards with the final kick of the game. Spurs will now face Chelsea at Wembley next month, with whom they drew 0-0 last weekend in the Premier League.

Bale told ESPN: "We've got difficult opposition with Chelsea but we'll give it a good go. We probably deserved to win on that day, we had the best chances but we were unable to take them. We'll give it our best shot.''

Bale also praised Bogdan, who single-handedly kept the Trotters in the game, saying: "He had an unbelievable game and first half we had a lot of chances and didn't capitalise.

"We said at half time we knew if one went in we could get a few more. The most important thing is the win. It is for everybody.''

Bolton manager Owen Coyle was realistic after a match where he admitted there had been "a range of emotions'' as Wanderers returned to the scene of Muamba's collapse.

He said: "In a football context then it was disappointing losing the game but we cannot argue Tottenham were better over the duration of the game. Football-wise they kept going. I was delighted with how they went about it.
We played in the manner befitting.''

Coyle also praised both sets of fans before revealing that Darren Pratley, who went off injured, had been taken to hospital. He added: "He is on his way to hospital. We are hoping it is superficial but there was a big bash. The best case is 10-14 days out, the worst four to six weeks.''

Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp added: "It was a good performance, we played ever so well tonight. We dominated the game but couldn't get the goal, it took a long time for it to come, their keeper was amazing.''

Of Nelsen, Redknapp added: "A fantastic player and a great professional - you could put your life on him. He is a top, top player. People can look at him and see how to behave and train and be a great pro.''